My students need these technology items to create a news station where they deliver important events, community initiatives, athletic games, and world news. All station activities will be exclusively student led.
Our school is comprised of many different cultures and our students reflect that. We currently engage about 1100 students this academic year and our students come from an array of socioeconomic statuses. A majority of our students are Hispanic, and many students are English Language Learners, that strive when given opportunities to bridge language through the arts. As our students fight to learn daily in the city of Chicago, they are also in the middle of a budget fight between the Chicago and the Springfield. The kids have opinions and want to share them with the world. As an IB World School (International Baccalaureate) we focus our students on several learner profiles: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, Risk Takers, Balanced, and Reflective.
My Project
This year has been a roller coaster year for the students in our school with the current climate around education, immigration, and policy. Students have combated a state of Illinois that has failed to produce a budget to fund their education for two years now. Students have faced ICE actualizing their immigration fears as they struggle to understand why anyone wants to build a wall around other human beings. The students have also seen changes in sports offerings, after school activities, and lack or resources in some classes due to frequent budget cuts/furlough days. In short, it has been a hard year for some of Chicago's most vulnerable citizens, the students in Chicago Public Schools.
Why the sob story?
We are an IB World School (International Baccalaureate) where we correlate academics, global awareness, and student led activities into the learning process. We also focus on the need to produce excellent students, but also excellent citizens. As students navigate our current world they have questions, and our students want answers. If given the opportunity, my school would begin a Peirce TV station where students organize stories they want to cover, conduct interviews, direct, record, and edit audio/video for school consumption. They need an iPad and 2 microphones. News production would also provide students an opportunity to share school and community events (Peirce sporting events, community fundraisers, local issues, a and school events like STEAM Night). For students, owning a process like this could be life changing, and would positively impact our entire student body. This project is imperative because it allows students to share unbiased accounts of events occurring in the media today (federal budget, immigration, taxes, terrorism, local events) and ultimately would be a way for students to reflect on these events, which would promote social emotional learning.
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